Carding-machine.



W. SULLIVAN.

GARDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. s, 1909.

' 976,756. y Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

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A i6 y lnmezfanq /Z Lydia 6 aff/fof MC2/M' lllillffll @TABS WILLIAMSULLIVAN, OE LEICESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

GARDINGJIACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 3, 1909.

Patented Nov. 22, 1910.

Serial No. 487,662.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM SULLIVAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Leicester, in the county of Worcester and State ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Carding-lvlachine, ofwhich the following is a specilication.

rlhis invention relates to carding machines or cards, for wool, cottonand other fibrous material. As at ,present consti acted, cardingmachines in ordinary use are provided with a main cylinder, one or moreworkers, and a stripper for each worker. The office of the stripper ismerely to remove the stock from the worker and bring it into positionwhere it can be taken up by the rapidly moving main cylinder. The onlycombing operation takes place between the worker and the main cylinder.It has been found in practice that the shives, burs, husks, etc. arecarried through the carding machine and have to be taken out of thecloth by hand. 1With some kinds of stock this is a very serioushandicap, particularly in making white goods, and it is often impossibleto take out the shives so that they will not be noticeable in thecompleted goods.

The principal objects of this invention are to provide a constructionwhich, without `adding anything to the complication of the cardingmachine, will result in removing a very large proportion of the shives,etc. and will at the same time provide an additional combing operation,namely at a point between the stripper and main cylinder so that simplyby the use of a main cylinder, worker, and stripper with an inexpensivemodification in the latter, a very efficient cleaning operation can besecured which is not now obtained and two combing operations performedwhere only one is performed now. These advantages are secured accordingto the present invention by means which does not change the cost of thecard itself but which makes the card clothing a little less expensivethan under the old practice.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying` drawing in which- Figure lshows a portion of the end of a carding machine in diagrammatic formillustrating one embodiment of this invention, and Fig. 2 is a plan of aportion of the stripper on an enlarged scale.

In this drawing, the main cylinder 10 rotates in the direction of thearrow thereon and is provided with card clothing having teeth l1projecting as usual, forwardly with respect to the direction of rotationof the main cylinder. Rotating at a much lower speed and in the oppositedirection to the rotation of the main cylinder is a worker l2 havingcard clothing provided with teeth 13 projecting backwardly with respectto the direction of rotation of the worker as usual.

So far as l am aware it has generally been the custom in practiceheretofore to provide the stripper with card clothing teeth pro` jectingin the same direction as the teeth of the card clothing on the maincylinder where they are substantially in contact, the stripper beingrotated in the opposite direction to that of the main cylinder, so thatwhere they come in contact their teeth move in the same direction, andthe surface speed of the main cylinder being much greater than that ofthe stripper the main cylinder easily takes the stock off the stripper.On account of the same construction the stripper easily takes the stockfrom the worker. Under the former constructions, therefore, there wouldbe no resistance to either of these operations, and consequently nocombing operation, the sole function of the stripper being to strip theworker and convey the stock to the main cylinder. According to thepresent invention the stripper 15 is provided with card clothing teeth16 projecting in a direction opposite to the direction 'of the adjacentteeth l1 on the main cylinder. It is preferred no-t to reverse thedirection of rotation of the stripper. In this way it will be seen thatthe worker takes the stock from the main cylinder in the same way asusual with a combing operation, there being no change in the operationof these parts. Then the stripper which rotates at a higher speed thanthe worker moves so that its teeth will take the stock from the wor-lierand as the main cylinder rotates faster than the stripper, its teethwill not only take the material from the teeth of the stripper but thelatter teeth will resist this action so that there will be a pull on thefibers resulting in a second combing operation between the stripper andmain cylinder.

lf the stripper were provided with teeth throughout its circumferencethe result would be that the stock would roll up bevconvolution on eachside tween the stripper and worker so that the i stripper could noteffectively remove the material from the worker. In order to avoid thiscondition and to assist the clean ing operation, the stripper isprovided witlr card clothing having the teeth thereon in sectionsseparated by spaces 17 which are free from teeth. rrIhe card clothingpreferably is wound on the stripper spirally in sucha way that eachsection of teeth on one convolution of the card clothing comes inregistration with a clear space on the next and vice versa. Inthis wayno two clear spaces are in registration with each other so that thereare no large continuous surfaces without teeth. In this way it will beseen that at the front of each: one ofv the sections of teeth on thestripper there will be a solid wall of teeth coming ragainst the stockon the worker which has been passed over by the clear section and thatconsequently the stock has no chance to roll up in the space between theworker and stripper. It has been found in practice, also, that one ofthe most iinportant results of this construction is that on account ofthe way in which the stock is taken up by the stripper from the worker,and also on account ofthe combing operation performed by the stripperand main cylinder, the stripper itself acts as a cleaningr member toremove the shives and the like. I-Ieretofore, with machines in which thestripper works in the old way with a continuous body of teeth on thecard clothing, although these teeth fill up with liber, there is no moredirt and shives in the liber left thereon than there is in the stockwhen it reaches the stripper, but under the construction of thisinvention, the teeth of the stripper are found to be filled with husls,burs and the like and when working on rags, with threads, so that everytime the stripper is stripped a large percentage of the foreign matteris removed from the stock. Thus, the stock is cleaned by the carditself, and the combing action substantially doubled, with no increasein cost of construction or operation. rIhe difference between the rovingprovided from a card supplied with this form of stripper and thatproduced by the old form is extremely noticeable and the cloth Wovenfrom it is so much cleaner that 1t has already proved to be a greatadvantage in this art.

lVhile I have illustrated and described a' preferred embodiment of theinvention, I am aware that many modifications may be made therein by anyperson skilled in the art without departing from the scope of theinvention as expressed in the claims. Therefore, I do not wish to belimited to all the details of'construction shown and described, but

-What I do claim is zl. A stripper for a carding machine fortransferring stock from a worker to the main cylinder', having cardclothing helically wound thereon, said card clothing having alternateclear spaces and spaces filled with teeth, each clear space in oneconvolution registering with a toothed space in the next on both sides,the card clothing having bent teeth with their outer ends extendingrearwardly with respect to the rotation of the stripper.

2. As an article of manufacture for transferring stock from a worker tothe main cyl-Y inder, a carding machine roll having card clothinghelica-lly wound thereon, said card clothing having alternate clearspaces and spaces lilledrwith teeth, each clear space in one convolutionregistering with a toothed space in the next on both sides, said spacesbeing rectangular the toothed spaces being longer than the clear spacesso as to overlap them at both ends.

3. As an article of manufacture, a carding machine rollhaving cardclothing helically wound thereon, said card clothing having alternateclearspaces and spaces lilled with teeth, each clear space in oneconvolution registering with a toothed space in the next on both sides,said spaces being quadrangular, the teeth thereof projecting rearwardlyat their outer ends with respect to the direction of rotation of theroll.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

IVILLIAM SULLIVAN. lVitnesses EDWARD M. MORGAN, A. E. FAY.

